My old sis 6326 video card has been reliable, however, I want to upgrade and would like some opinions. I am looking for a card that has a reputation for ease of install (i.e. not hunting for drivers or having to recompile xfree86, or mysterious freeze ups, ect.) Just plug it in and go. It has to handle openGL and have about 64meg of video ram and be an agp slot type. Any feedback on using a particular card would be appreciated.

nvidia is a very easy card to install, and i know i'll hear it from ati users ,but nvidia are the best cards out there ... i never tried installing an ati card on
a linux box, nor will i ever waste my time doing so, so i can't comment on
them cards ..
so if your just looking for a 64meg card, then just grab like a mx400, or
mx440 or whatever, thats a basic nvidia card, and of course yes they are
agp cards ....

The nvidia Linux drivers are also very easy to install. I have heard the official ati drivers can be a nightmare to install (no doubt I'll also hear from ati fans ).

Is it correct to assume that pci is better than agp? What issues would an agp card have
as opposed to pci?

Generally AGP is regarded as better than PCI, something to do with a faster bus etc.

Actually, you are limited by the voltage of your motherboard's agp slot (if you were using an agp card instead of a pci video card--i don't know those sis cards).

If you can put either voltage in your mobo you are then limited by the mobo's speed (1x, 2x, 4x, or 8x). If it is 8x then more than likely you require a 1.5v AGP slot.

Anyway, after you have all that determined you buy the very best your money will allow be it either an ATI card or an NVIDIA card. I recommend nVidia all the way. I don't have a problem with ATI's hardware, it's just that their software/drivers suck the big donkey **** (well, you fill in the blank) at least under linux. Their committment is considerably less than that of nvidia (and ATI publicly stated as much) and their drivers under windows has a whole lot to be desired and always has from the extremely early days when they started in the video card market).

AGP performance significantly better than PCI, but PCI-Express is better than AGP. In your case, unless you have an ultra new motherboard you don't have a PCI-Express slot on your motherboard.

I just did a quick check on pricegrabber and found a geforce mx4000 w/128mb and agp 8x, 4x. My mainboard is a first international 503+ with an amd 500mhz cpu. It is set up for agp 2x 66mhz data transfer speed. Would there be any compatability issues with the nVidea card and the mainboard? Would a 4x card work in a 2x slot? Also, what is the proper way to change a video card?

i have the same question... it's about an GeForce4 MX440... the box says it works with AGP 4X and 8X, but i'd like to know if i can safely run it on a 2X slot... i know performance won't be optimal, but i want to know if it's safe...

as long as the voltage specs on the slot and card match,you can run it at any multi setting.
NVIDIA would be the card of choice for myself.(6 nvidia vs. 1 ati)

After some investigation, I have a clear understanding of the agp specifications and bus voltages. My board is an agp 1.0 specification, which means it supports 3v and the bus is 2x. Newer agp specifications, like agp 2.0 support less voltage, but draw more amps throgh the bus. The 8x cards support the latest agp specification and draw the highest amount of current, which is why they need big heat sinks and fans. They also need additional power and have plug recepticals like peripherals do. 8x is backward compatable in speed but not voltage. You need to be sure it will not destroy your motherboard by checking the agp bus slot voltage from the motherboard manufacturer's docs. I settled on an nVidia 16meg tnt model that states that it is both agp 1.0 and agp 2.0 compliant. I do not think I can find anything faster that is compatable with my board.